Maps

March 08, 2007

RULE 7. STATE CONVENTIONS

7-1. Procedure.

A. Call. The State Chairperson shall issue a call for a State Convention in accordance with law and these rules. The call shall be mailed to each County Chairperson and to each member of the State Central Committee. It shall be issued at least sixty (60) days prior to the date of the convention, and shall specify the time, place and general purposes of the convention. Publication of notice shall be according to Rule 2-4.E The call may be amended only by a three-fourths (3/4) vote of the convention. The Chairperson shall have the authority to levy an assessment equal for all delegates to defray the cost of the meeting.

B. Scheduling. A Pre-Primary Election Nominating Convention shall be held at least sixty (60) days prior to the primary election. A Post-Primary Election Convention shall be held in years when delegates to a National Convention are to be selected.

C. Elected Delegates. A uniformly proportional number of delegates to be elected from each county shall be based on a formula giving equal weight to the county votes for Democratic candidates in the most recent gubernatorial and presidential elections.

D. Alternate Delegates. Alternate delegates are those who received votes in the county elections of delegates but who were not elected. Alternate delegates in the respective counties are rank ordered by the number of votes they received, the highest vote getter being ranked first in the order of substitution for delegates absent from the convention and who have not personally selected alternate delegates.

E. Automatic Delegates. Members of the State Central Committee shall serve as state-certified automatic delegates to all State Conventions, in addition to those state delegates elected at the County Conventions, unless prohibited by the rules of the Democratic Party of the United States. Each county, if its rules so provide, may designate a certain number of county-certified delegates as automatic delegates by virtue of being elected to a public office or party position, as long as proportional representation (Rule 17) is not materially violated. State-certified automatic delegates do not count against the allocation of delegates to the counties dictated by Rule 7-1.C. County-certified automatic delegates do count against the allocation of delegates to the counties dictated by Rule 7-1.C.